Rajnath Singh raises concern over delay in Nirbhaya project

Rajnath Singh, while reviewing the Centre- State division of the MHA, suggested the state police forces to involve a professional body to help them develop capacity to fight cyber crime. (Source: Reuters)

The Government on Tuesday raised concerns over delay in starting of Nirbhaya project, aimed at providing speedy assistance to women in distress, and said stakeholders will be consulted for its speedy execution.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, while reviewing the Centre- State division of the MHA, also suggested the state police forces to involve a professional body to help them develop capacity to fight cyber crime.

The Manmohan Singh-led UPA government had on February 4, this year approved Nirbhaya (named in a memory of a girl, who was brutally gang raped in a moving bus here in December 2012) project.

Under the project, a distress or emergency alarms generated by woman by pressing a button through her mobile phones or devices would land at Police Control Room (PCR) which would immediately arrange to dispatch emergency PCR van to assist the individual.

“The Home Minister raised concern regarding the delay in kicking-off the project. It was decided that the project should be implemented in an expeditious manner. He desired to review it personally soon with all stakeholders,” said a press release issued by the MHA.

The system is to be implemented in the 114 cities.

Singh has been reviewing various divisions of the MHA and recently he had visited the Intelligence Bureau wing in the North Block.

The Home Minister was given a briefing by top officials on women’s safety issues, criminal tracking network, cyber crimes and modernisation of prisons.

While reviewing the progress of the Crimes and Criminal Network Tracking and Systems (CCTNS) Project, it was observed that even though the project was in advanced stage of implementation, few states and Union Territories like Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Goa, Haryana, Lakshadweep, Manipur and Rajasthan were still lagging far behind.